How to be Brave - Blanche x Spark - on hold
by Zmej Gorynych
Summary: Blanche was born with a curse on his body. Until he finds his soul mate he is doomed to be unhappy and soulless. Growing up is tough on a boy whose village despises him and blocks him out of everything because of the 'curse'. As he launches out on his own as a gym leader, he finds himself training the irritating Spark. Will this man bring out the joy within that has been ruined?
1. Prologue

**I haven't been on here for a super long time! Anyway, here's a Pokemon Go fanfic! Blanche, although she has been listed as a female, will be male for this story because yaoi is life!  
Enjoy!**

The woman on the bed screamed – a long, wailing cry that shot through the small and quiet village. The doctor next to her had her hand on the woman's thighs and was urging her on in a soft voice.

"Come on, nearly there."

A man kneeling next to the woman gripped her hand tightly and nodded to her, "One more push. I swear. It will be over soon."

The woman looked down at her bulging stomach. All of this for one baby? Her husband brushed her silver hair out of her eyes and gave her another supportive look, not caring if his fingers were about to be broken by her iron grip.

She cried out again, one final push leading to the baby sliding out and beginning to cry. The sound coming from the tiny bundle that was now being rubbed down by the doctor was louder than anyone could have anticipated.

"It's a boy," the doctor smiled, holding the baby up to show the parents. The tiny bundle had soft blue eyes and a shock of silver hair just like his mother. The woman reached out and pulled the baby to her chest. "Did you have a name picked out for him?"

"We were expecting a girl," the father admitted softly, caressing the baby's soft head. "We only had one name picked out."

"Blanche," the woman sniffled, pain still radiating through her body. However, the pain came second to the precious article in her hands. Just by looking at her baby she knew she would protect the precious boy from all of the horrors in the world. She would help him and guide him so that he would never have to feel sadness or terror. He would grow up to be strong and wise.

"I think the name works," the doctor smiled before frowning. "What's this?" She touched the baby's foot and looked at a dark mark that looked like a tattoo.

The father looked up at his wife, "He has the mark. The legends are true."

"What legends?" She mumbled, her eyes starting to slip shut.

The doctor wiped her hands clean of the baby's birth juices. "There's a legend that's gone through this village for a very long time. As an outsider, you wouldn't have heard it. The tale goes that a child born with a mark like that would be loveless until they met their soul mate – the person with their matching tattoo. Blanche here is the first person to be born with such a mark."

The woman's eyes flashed open, "No! He can't be cursed with something like this!"

"It isn't a curse," the father soothed. "It's a promise that when he finds his soul mate, his life will be richer and more fulfilled than anyone's in the world."

"No, it's a curse," she shook her head. Her face crumpled in pain, "It still hurts so much. Why does it hurt?"

The doctor frowned, "You might be trying to pass the placenta early. Hang on, let me take a look." She delved between the woman's legs before swearing. "There's a small tear within your walls that I need to stitch up." There was another swear word and the doctor looked up at the husband, her face white as a sheet. As she pulled away, the man noticed the amount of blood on the doctor's hands.

"What's that?" he asked, his voice high pitched. "What's going on?"

The doctor grabbed her kit and tried to wipe the slimy blood from her hands as she tried to control the bleeding. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" the doctor whispered over and over again. The man felt like his heart had stopped beating and he looked at his wife. Her face was growing paler and paler and her eyes were drifting shut.

"I feel funny," the woman whispered. "The pain has gone. Thank the doctor for me."

Her husband pressed his face into the crook of her neck and breathed her scent in, tears running down his face. "Go to sleep," he whispered. "I'll see you when you wake up."

She nodded slowly and held her baby tighter, "Look after him until I wake up?" She asked, a small yawn coming from her as her eyes fell shut for the last time.

"I will," the father promised. "I will look after Blanche. We will find his soul mate and he will be the happiest child in the world."

The tent fell silent, save for the screams of the crying baby in her arms.


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, here's chapter one! I hope you enjoy it! I wrote something else but when I re-read it I thought I had made Blanche a tad too whiny about his life so I completely changed the chapter and I hope this is much better!  
Please rate and review for me 3  
~Fantasy's Mistress**

I held the pokéball gingerly between my fingers, eyeing off my opponent. He had already let his Pokémon fly and I tried to analyse how much more powerful it was. The pidgey blinked at me and I returned the look. Had he not evolved because of a tactic used by the other man, or had he not evolved because he wasn't strong enough?

Finally, I opened my ball and Ragnor crawled out, growling loudly at the now shaking pidgey. I raised my eyebrows and looked over at the sneering trainer. I should have known his name - considering I went to school with him - but we had never spoken. In fact, no one had ever really spoken to me. After the fiasco with the tattoo on my foot, everyone avoided me like the plague. They thought it was a curse. I guess I couldn't blame them for being afraid - I know I was.

The man motioned to his pidgey and it took several tentative steps forward, but another growl from Ragnor stopped it in its tracks. I felt bad for the smaller Pokémon, as it wasn't its fault that it was stuck with such an awful trainer.

I buried my fingers in the fur at the scruff of Ragnor's neck, giving him a light massage that caused him to purr. I had been raised with Ragnor beside me. He had been my mother's Pokémon before she died. When she did, he had latched onto me and stood by my side throughout my childhood. Now that I was 20, I was allowed to go for the entrance exam to be a trainer - which is where I was now. Times had changed since I was a child. Anyone used to be able to train or attempt to become a gym leader if they were strong enough. Now, we needed a special license that allowed us to do so. It seemed to me like the guy across from me was not going to get that license today.

"We can win this easily," I murmured to Ragnor. "Just intimidate the pidgey and it will run."

Ragnor looked up at me with a soft whine before lowering his head again and glaring at the pidgey. The already quaking bird let out a loud squawk before running from the mat. Immediately, my name sprung up in lights around the stadium.

Well, kind of sprung up in lights. Our village was still struggling with the modern age of technology so the old screens all had something different written on it. Some had "blan" others had "anche" and so on. It was still a nice feeling to see my name up there as if I had won something special.

I shut my eyes for a moment while Ragnor leant into my side. My father would be so proud of me. I knew he was waiting outside, clutching onto his own pokéballs for dear life as he worried about how I was going.

When I opened my eyes, I left the stadium quietly, the man still glaring at the back of my head. I ignored him and went to collect my new, shiny license. I had won five battles today, so it was my right to get that badge. We had to fight five and win at least three to get a valid license. When I looked up at the score board I noticed that the guy I had versed wasn't up there anymore – an image of his pidgey had disappeared. This must have been his third loss.

Personally, I didn't really care. He hadn't cared about my existence for the past twenty years, so why would I care about his license? It's not my issue.

The man grudgingly handed me my license, making sure not to make skin-to-skin contact with me. I pretended not to notice as I took my ID while clipping the badge onto my belt. Looking at my ID I chuckled. The photo they had made me take was so awkward. The image was a little too dark and it made my long, silver hair look more of a drab, dark grey. My blue eyes came out black and my skin looked a little more tan than it usually did. Other than that, I was happy people would be able to recognise me in the picture.

Ragnor trotted after me happily as I made my way outside. I never kept him in a ball because he would get too feisty about the confinement. However, my other Pokémon seemed to love resting in there and waiting for me. I reached behind me to touch the filled ball on my belt.

A tap on my shoulder made me jump and I turned around.

"Did you get it?"

My father's excited face filled my vision. He had been so sure I would get it, but the touch of worry in his eyes filled my heart with love. I flung myself into his arms and nodded. He whooped and spun me around, my feet lifting off the ground. Even at my age, he could still lift me. I guess that's the strength of a miner right there.

My father worked in a mine to keep debt off our backs while I studied at school. He had big hopes that I would become a gym leader and earn enough money to never have to take a job in the mines, as he considered it far too dangerous.

His dratini poked his head over his shoulder and blinked at me happily. He was a very quiet Pokémon, but that was to be expected. It was strange for a miner to have a water Pokémon as a companion, but like my father said, the Pokémon chose him and that was that.

"I'm so proud of you," he murmured, holding me close for another few moments before letting me go. "Your mother would be so proud as well."

"Thanks, dad," I smiled. I could feel my face going red with the praise he was heaping on me.

Just as we were about to start heading back to our small house down the end of the hill, another tap on my shoulder stopped me. I turned to see a woman standing there with a huge smile on her face. She had short brown hair that made her look cheekier than she should.

"Blanche, right?" She raised her brows.

I nodded mutely, seeing the gym leader badge on her shirt. It said she came from Kanto and I gulped. She would have to be one of the best trainers.

"My name's Candela," she reached out and grabbed my hand, shaking it. "I have a proposal for you."


	3. Chapter 2

**I don't usually respond to reviews like this - usually I'll message the person if I have a problem - but in this case as it was left as a 'guest' review, I will have to make do.  
I'm a tad miffed that someone came on here just to tell me that Blanche is "confirmed a girl". Now, I don't care what you see Blanche as, but don't come onto my work, refuse to read it, then tell me how I should be writing my characters. I love constructive criticism, don't get me wrong, but telling me my character is off because I've made a she a he is bothersome. Especially considering I mentioned this in the first couple of sentences in my author's note for the prologue. It's obvious you didn't even bother reading the first line and just came on here to say that. Usually, I would ignore it, but I'm going to stand up for myself and other authors/artists who receive the same old bs every time they gender bend a character or change some things around. This is a ****_fanfiction,_** **not an official piece of writing, so if I make Blanche a male, I make him a male and all is good in the world. Please don't tell authors and artists that their take on a character is wrong. This is called artistic interpretation - so please respect that.**

 **For everyone else, I'm sorry you had to read that but I needed to get that off my chest. I am tired of seeing everyone squabbling over Blanche's gender every time an artist or author draws/writes her.  
Thank you to everyone who bothers to read and doesn't criticise without first having a go at my writing :)  
After all that, here's the next chapter ~**

"I can't go," I shook my head slowly as I cleared the table after dinner. "Kanto is too far away."

"Blanche," my father sighed and leaned back in his chair, "this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Kanto is the best of the best, and they've asked you to train with them. Imagine it! You could become the gym leader in Kanto!"

I shrugged, cleaning the plates methodically, my mind needing the repetitive moves as I worked. "I didn't exactly have plans that huge. I want to be a trainer, but in Kanto... Imagine the competition."

"Are you turning away from a challenge?"

"If I don't, then I'm turning away from you."

My father let out a bark of laughter. "Where did you get that idea?"

I let the dirty water flow down the drain before drying my hands to collect my thoughts. "If I leave, you'll be all alone. The people here haven't exactly been the friendliest since I was born, and you'll have to face that alone."

"Blanche, Blanche, Blanche," he said my name with a sigh. "You don't have to protect me. I know what they say, and I know they're wrong. You've got so much more to you than what they think, and I want you to go to Kanto and prove it."

Deep down, my soul was itching to run out the door and meet with the gym leader I had spoken to, Candela.

~~~

 _Candela gave me a huge smile, "I have a proposal for you. I've seen the way you fight, and it's obvious you're fair not only to your pokemon but to the pokemon of others, so I was hoping you might come back to Kanto with me and train under my leadership."_

 _I blinked at her in shock before I could bring myself to open my mouth and force words from it. "Why would you want me to do that? You don't even know me."_

 _"It doesn't matter," she gripped my arm and began dragging me along the walkway without asking - leaving my father behind who was watching us with excited eyes. "I see what I want, and I take it. So I'm taking you."_

 _I frowned and tried to pull my arm away from her. "You can't just take me. I'm not an object. Stop messing around." I guessed she was someone from my village who was trying to mess with me. No way would a leader from Kanto be all the way out here._

 _"Look, kid," she muttered, even though she looked the same age as me. She opened her wallet and flashed her gym leader badge at me. "Want one of these? Then come with me. If you don't, you'll spend the next ten plus years going from tiny village to tiny village trying to collect enough badges to see if you can make it through the Kanto gym's front doors. So there's your choice right there - me and Kanto, or you and nothing. Enjoy being an obscure runt for the rest of your life."_

 _"Wait!" I called out as she began to walk away. She stopped immediately and spun around, a huge grin on her face as if she knew I had been about to stop her._

 _"What if I choose to join you? What would happen then?"_

 _"Then," she took a step towards me, "you will come to Kanto, most likely by train so please don't ride your pokemon, and you will be a part of the gym." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a card with the logo for the Kanto gym on it. "Show them this, and they will let you in to see me. You have one week before that card becomes invalid, so decide on your path quickly."_

 _I stood there, staring at the card in my hand with a dumbfounded expression as she walked away, nudging strangers out of her way so she could take a straight path towards the docks._

"What do you want?" My dad asked softly.

I pulled the card out of my pocket and stared at it for a moment before meeting my father's understanding eyes. "I want to go."

"So go," he said simply. "I'll hold down the fort here and you can call me every week."

I opened my mouth, about to tell him no, but the words wouldn't come out. My father was right - I shouldn't give up an opportunity like this. Not everybody gets this chance and it would be insulting to turn it down. And if it didn't work out,

I could always return here and continue to be a trainer. I guess in this way, I was in a win/win situation.

"Go and pack," my father murmured as he took the card from my hand. "I'll hold onto this so it doesn't disappear into your luggage and you get ready. I'll find out when the next train is coming and we'll get you on."

I gave him a doubtful look. The train doesn't come often enough in my village - once a day if we're lucky - so I've probably missed my chance to begin travelling today, but I didn't want to tell him that and squash his excitement. I went to my room and pulled out my old suitcase. It had been repaired in areas with who knows what. But I loved it anyway, as it did what I needed it to do without fuss. Well, except for the left lock - that thing would never flick open when I wanted it to.

Picking out several clothes, I put them in there, including my mother's blue jacket. It still reached my knees, even though for years my father had insisted I would grow into it, but it flowed nicely and looked good with my long silver hair.

I finished packing and lugged my small suitcase to the front door where my father stood, his phone to his ear. He nodded and thanked the person on the other end before hanging up.

"Good news," he murmured. "There's one early tomorrow morning. So get some sleep and I'll take you up there when the sun rises." He leant forward and pressed his lips to my forehead. "I'm so proud that my son is going to Kanto."


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, sorry this is a little late. Work caught up with me and I was really busy!**

 **Anyway, here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy - especially since we finally get to meet Spark!**

The train rattled loudly as it sped across empty, country land. Although the land was flat, the rugged quality meant that the train lines hadn't been able to be created perfectly flat. The lack of soil meant that it was balanced on rocks, although it wasn't dangerous; just bumpy.

I clutched onto the bag on my lap, hoping my pokemon weren't bouncing around in their pokeballs too much. I would hate it if they were in pain or uncomfortable. I knew rationally that they would be fine, but I couldn't help that small twinge of worry that made me look down on my bag over and over again.

The train stopped at a much bigger village than mine. This one seemed to be a fishing village, as I could see all of the people out by the lake with their lines. I'm sure they were able to have a better quality life than our little mining village, but I felt nothing but contentment. Every village had their struggles and I wouldn't be one to judge.

My eyes widened in surprise as quite a few people boarded after having their heaviest bags taken and put under the carriages. The door to my carriage opened and a boy stumbled on. He looked about my age, with crazy yellow hair and deep, blue eyes. We made eye contact and I quickly looked away awkwardly. I hated being caught out for staring at another person.

I heard a muffled sigh and I winced, believing he must be angry at me. To my surprise, I suddenly found him sitting across from me. My eyes widened and he flashed me a grin before leaning forward.

"My name's Spark, how are ya?"

I blinked in surprise as the stranger began speaking to me. "Umm, I'm fine. I'm Blanche."

Spark extended his hand and gently shook mine, "It's nice to meet you, Ma'am."

 _Ma'am?_

Before I could get huffy, Spark's interest had already moved on, chatting to another passenger who had joined us. Funnily enough, he seemed to match this man up with the word 'sir'.

I crossed my arms and glared out of the nearby window, trying to patch together my wounded pride. It's not that I cared if he called me ma'am as a mistake, but to look straight at me and still believe that was the right answer was pretty rude.

Without wanting to, my eyes gravitated back to the lively blond who was now showing the bored looking stranger his magic tricks. He dropped his cards all over the floor and laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck while blaming the movement of the train for his mistake. He tried to do it again but dropped them once more.

"What was your card again?" He asked, leaning back in his seat.

The man rolled his eyes. "Queen of hearts."

"Ah, the queen of hearts," Spark turned his head to look at me. "Like this lovely lady over here."

I felt my blood boil. He was definitely doing this on purpose!

Before I could kick him off his seat, the stranger leant down and picked up several of the cards that had landed on his lap. He paused, looking at them strangely. Spark's eyes gleamed at me as my rage began to turn into confusion. What was he looking at?

The stranger looked between the two of us, his mouth opening and closing silently. He showed me the cards.

All of them had the queen of hearts on them.

I yawned and looked away. "Obviously a deck made up of the one card."

"Hey! Don't give my secrets away!" Spark laughed and ran a hand through his hair, picking up the rest of his cards quickly. As I had no interest in resuming any form of communication with the boy, I avoided all eye contact with him.

He handed the stranger his cards. "Here, keep them. I only learnt that trick for the train ride over here. I'm already sick of magic tricks."

"Where is your destination?"

"Kanto."

My head snapped around. No way that little dweeb was going to Kanto! I would be stuck with him for the rest of the trip!

"Why?" I asked, clearly annoyed.

He shrugged, "I got accepted into some sort of trainee program. Basically I'm going to be trained to become a great Pokémon trainer." He puffed his chest out.

Spark better not be going where I was, I thought bitterly to myself. Although it sounded like he was doing something very different from me, if we were even within walking distance from one another it would be too close.

"Anyway," he got up and stretched, "I'm going to see if anyone else needs any entertainment. Spark out!" He held up the peace sign with his two fingers before trudging away.

I snorted in derision. "Thankfully he's gone!"

The man held up the deck he was holding. "This is weird."

Raising one brow I picked up a card from the floor both men had missed. "How's it strange. He had a fake deck."

"No, that's just it," he shook his head. "I got to go through the deck first and it was normal. I even watched closely and all I saw was him dropping the deck twice. It's impossible for him to have switched the deck."

A small flicker of interest grew in me as I inspected the deck I was holding. Did Spark really just 'learn' this trick for the train ride over here? Or was everything he was doing and saying a trick? If he did learn it for nothing more than to amuse others, maybe he was more intelligent than I had first thought…

Well, not that intelligent. He'd still thought I was a girl!

 **Please remember to leave a review and fav!**


	5. Chapter 4

**New chapter is up! I hope you enjoy Blanche's journey! Thank you to everyone for supporting me so far and to all the new supporters - welcome!**

When I got off the train, my knees felt wobbly. I had never been on a train for that long and it was an uncomfortable feeling. My head swam from the constant rocking motion I had just been subjected to and my knees screamed in agony for being bent for so long. I had to lean against a wall until my body adjusted, my hand holding tightly to my bag so no one would steal it.

Ragnor was softly whining and rubbing his head against my leg, desperately trying to make me feel better. He had stayed in the pokeball the entire time and was now looking forward to investigating this new land in front of him.

I took several big gulps of air before pushing my silvery strands of hair from my face to help me see better. Faces flashed past me as people hurried to and fro. This wasn't like my town at all - where nearly everyone would have stopped and asked a stranger if they were okay when they were obviously sick from the motion. This was a city, and people from the city were never as friendly. They had places to be and people to see and soon enough I would be one of them. I tried not to believe that I could ever ignore someone who looked ill or in danger, but a little voice told me in the back of my mind that I might possibly do that if I had to prioritise something else.

Finally my body stopped rebelling against me and I was able to straighten out. I dusted off my pants and led the way from the platform slowly. Ragnor followed me, but his wet nose nudging my leg let me know he wanted me to move faster so he could see everything more quickly.

Laughing softly, I made my way out of the station and looked up in awe at the Kanto city. A dazzling city was set out in front of me - lights flashed and vehicles buzzed past sending my mind whirling again. I gaped up at the large buildings around me and at the mountains that lined it, keeping everything in one spot. The large range looked like an odd background to the harsh chemicals of the modern city; the difference between the welcoming earth and the rejecting technology.

I pulled my bag behind me as we both slowly walked along the street, our mouths agape. I was nudged as people rushed past me and I pulled over to the side to pull out the map I had. I needed to find the gym so that I could find Candela. I found it on the map and planned my journey as quickly as I possibly could before shoving it in my back pocket and trudging forward. People frowned down at Ragnor as if they hadn't seen a pokemon in their city.

Shock suddenly ran through me as I realised I could see no pokemon. Not even a jigglypuff graced these streets. My eyes grazed past the people and noticed some had pokeballs attached to their hips, but very rarely. Ragnor barely noticed a thing, his puffy tail wagging as he wandered around, tongue lolling out. But sooner or later he would notice and he would look at me with those sad eyes and I would have no comfort for him.

We made our way to the gym - an inconspicuous looking building. It said the words "Cinnabar Gym" over the top in cracked, faded red lettering. I bit my lip and tentatively opened the door.

I was struck back with sudden force as a pokemon ecaped through the door, wheeling through the air on what looked like nothing more than his own gas. I waved my hand in front of my face at the smell as a trainer rushed out, yelling at the monster to come back.

Ragnor growled softly and nudged me forward again, his ears pricking forward in interest. He would only do that if he recognised a scent so I pushed through the door and into the room. The first thing I saw was that everything was red. The walls, the carpet, and the strange water area they had made to look like lava. I could tell it wasn't real considering not an ounce of heat was drifting from it.

Candela was hard to spot considering she blended in with the red walls, but I finally found her directing two people in battle tactics. I watched with interest as she guided them through basic understanding between themselves and their pokemon before she caught my eye and grinned wildly. She flounced over, short brown hair bouncing against her face.

"Blanche," she smiled, "I'm so glad you could make it!"

"I almost didn't come," I admitted softly. I knew I would have regretted it completely now. To miss out on all of the things going on around me would have been such a waste.

"But you're here!" She knelt down and rubbed Ragnor's ears. "Still travelling with him?"

I frowned. "Of course. Ragnor is my pokemon. I can't have any other."

"Hmm," she sat up and narrowed her eyes at me. "I'm pretty familiar with fire types. Their magic surges through me and is perfect."

If anyone else had said that I would have thought they were bragging, but I could tell she truly meant it. She would never have become such a prolific leader if she couldn't perfectly weld herself with her pokemon.

"You're missing out on that," she said simply with a shrug. "I don't think you're fire type at all. I think your personality isn't strong enough to hold onto that. You and Ragnor work well, but he isn't your pokemon. Who's is he?" Her eyes looked at me with sympathy, as if she knew I was with Ragnor for a reason.

"He was my mother's," I said stiffly.

"And she's dead?" She prompted.

My face hardened and I said nothing else. She nodded in understanding before replying to my silence, "I am happy to have you and Ragnor here. But I am hoping you will find the pokemon that is right for you. Ragnor needs to retire soon and be able to rest at your side. I'm sure he won't be jealous if you find another pokemon that can fill your needs as a trainer."

There was no way in hell that was happening. Ragnor stayed by my side as mine and I would have no substitute or replacement. To do so would be to tarnish my mother's memory. She handpicked and trained Ragnor from when he was a baby and trusted in him completely. I would not undermine both of their life's work and insult their memory together by tossing Ragnor to the side and choosing something else.

Candela could see the decision in my eyes and her mouth tightened in disappointment. The look was only there briefly but it was noticeable before she wiped it away with another smile. "Go on. Trainer's rooms are down there. Pick one with an empty room and unpack. You're going to start teaching your first class in an hour."

"Wait, what-?"

She was gone before I could ask her what the hell was going on. I thought I was here to train underneath her, not train other people. What had I been sucked into?


End file.
